Nitrones nitrile oxide intramolecular cycloadditions

The formation of compound (16) is proposed to proceed through the nitrile oxide (15) as an intermediate to undergo intramolecular nitrile oxide-olefin cycloaddition (INOC). On the contrary, the generation of (18) is proposed to proceed through intramolecular alkoxycarbonyl nitronate-olehn cycloaddition (lAOC) step because only the trans isomers are formed. 

Keywords Intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions. Stereoselectivity, Nitrile oxides, SUyl nitronates. Oximes, H-Nitrones, Azides, NitrUimines... 

Although nitrile oxide cycloadditions have been extensively investigated, cycloadditions of silyl nitronates, synthetic equivalent of nitrile oxides in their reactions with olefins, have not received similar attention. Since we found that the initial cycloadducts, hl-silyloxyisoxazolidines, are formed with high degree of stereoselectivity and can be easily transformed into isoxazolines upon treatment with acid or TBAF, intramolecular silylnitronate-olefin cycloadditions (ISOC) have emerged as a superior alternative to their corresponding INOC reactions [43]. Furthermore, adaptability of ISOC reactions to one-pot tandem sequences involving 1,4-addition and ISOC as the key steps has recently been demonstrated [44]. 

Intramolecular nitrone cycloadditions often require higher temperatures as nitrones react more sluggishly with alkenes than do nitrile oxides and the products contain a substituent on nitrogen which may not be desirable. Conspicuously absent among various nitrones employed earlier have been NH nitrones, which are tautomers of the more stable oximes. However, Grigg et al. [58 a] and Padwa and Norman [58b] have demonstrated that under certain conditions oximes can undergo addition to electron deficient olefins as Michael acceptors, followed by cycloadditions to multiple bonds. We found that intramolecular oxime-olefin cycloaddition (lOOC) can occur thermally via an H-nitrone and lead to stereospecific introduction of two or more stereocenters. This is an excellent procedure for the stereoselective introduction of amino alcohol functionality via N-0 bond cleavage. 

Hassner and coworkers have developed a one-pot tandem consecutive 1,4-addition intramolecular cycloaddition strategy for the construction of five- and six-membered heterocycles and carbocycles. Because nitroalkenes are good Michael acceptors for carbon, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen nucleophiles (see Section 4.1 on the Michael reaction), subsequent intramolecular silyl nitronate cycloaddition (ISOC) or intramolecular nitrile oxide cycloaddition (INOC) provides one-pot synthesis of fused isoxazolines (Scheme 8.26). The ISOC route is generally better than INOC route regarding stereoselectivity and generality. 

Dihydro- and tetrahydrofuroisoxazoline rings were constructed by intramolecular cycloaddition of nitrile oxides or nitrones, generated from oximes . Thus, oxime 30 and sodium hypochlorite afforded furoisoxazolines 31 (equation 14). Similarly, furanyl or thienyl oximes 32 in the presence of NaOCl afforded tricyclic products 33 in 35-90% yields (equation 15). Nitrostyrenes (ArCH=CHN02) and various nucleophiles (for example, allyl mercaptan) also generated hydroximoyl chlorides which underwent similar cycloaddition leading to bicycUc tetrahydrothiophene and tetrahydrofuran derivatives ... 

A previous review has highlighted the following methods of ring synthesis intramolecular cyclization of oximes, nitro alkenes, and nitrones, and [4+2] cycloaddition reactions <1996CHEC-II(6)279>. In addition to that, this review includes the intramolecular cyclization of hydroxylamines, hydroxamates, hetero-Diels-Alder [4+2], 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrile oxides to alkenes, and [3+3] cycloaddition reactions. This review does not cover cycloaddition reactions of the [4+2] [3+2] and [4+2] [3+2] [3+2] types which primarily led to heterocycle-fused oxazine ring systems. 

The convergence of the nitronate and nitrile oxide cycloadditions has allowed for the direct comparisons of yields and stereoselectivities of the two processes. For intramolecular reactions, the nitronate dipole typically required longer reaction times and/or elevated temperatures (22,98,135), however, the nitronate cycloaddition shows considerably higher diastereoselectivity (Table 2.42). Interestingly, the diastereoselectivity is dependent on the placement of a substituent on the tether. In the case of the silyl nitronate derived from 172, the diastereoselectivity is controlled by the substituent at C(l), while cyclization of the analogous nitrile oxide is governed by the substituent at C(l ) (Scheme 2.10) (124). 

The above dramatic dependence of regio- and stereoselectivity on the nature of the metal can be explained by the reaction mechanism shown in Scheme 11.49 (167). The nitrone cycloadditions of allylic alcohols are again magnesium-specific just like the nitrile oxide reactions described in Section 11.2.2. Magnesium ions accelerate the reaction through a metal ion-bound intramolecular cycloaddition path. On the other hand, zinc ions afford no such rate acceleration, but these ions catalyze the acetalization at the benzoyl carbonyl moiety of the nitrone to provide a hemiacetal intermediate. The subsequent intramolecular regio- and stereoselective cycloaddition reaction gives the observed products. 

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